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Satriamandala Museum offers night tour to lure visitors
The number of visitors declined to 11,693 visitors in 2018 from 49,964 visitors in 2015.
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An American-made jet fighter is on display in the backyard of Satriamandala Museum in South Jakarta on Feb. 21. (JP/Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman)
O
n Friday afternoon, 38-year-old Sisi Farabi took her 4-year-old son to Satriamandala Museum, which exhibits a vast collection of the Indonesian Military's (TNI) equipment and weapons, in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta.
Th museum, managed by the TNI’s center for history, is central to the TNI’s history, displaying the belongings of former president Gen. Soeharto, the first military commander-in-chief Gen. Soedirman, the first chief of staff of the then-Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) Gen. Oerip Soemohardjo and former defense minister Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution.
The museum welcomes visitors with dioramas, including one about the declaration of independence on Aug. 17, 1945 and the Battle of Surabaya on Nov. 10, 1970. It also has rooms showing rifles and handguns, as well as swords and sharpened bamboo, in addition to an exhibition of military transportation such as jet fighters, helicopters and tanks.
"My son really loves Army stuff. He wants to be a soldier. He watches military-related videos on YouTube," Sisi said.
Despite expressing enthusiasm for the museum, she suggested that the management enliven it to attract more visitors.
“At first I couldn’t really tell whether the museum was open,” she added.
Established in 1972, the museum has seen a declining number of visitors in the past several years. The museum's head of guidance and information, Maj. Ardiansyah, said its lack of programs might have contributed to the decrease. Traffic congestion along the busy Jl. Gatot Subroto in front of the museum might also deter visitors from coming, he added.
